What the ?
by amalspach
Summary: On the way back to Gravity Falls to visit Mabel, Dipper discovers that he may or may not be in love with his partner Pacifica; in the most unorthodox way, of course. A Gravity Falls oneshot. (Also, the sequel, 'How the . . . ', is now up.)


Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls, sadly. If not, it would still be on the air. All I have is the plot.

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Dipper Pines' life was looking up, big time. Currently he and his long time partner in crime, or rather, stopping supernatural crimes, Pacifica Northwest, were cruising down the road towards Gravity Falls, their permanent home. The 23 year old briefly turned around, catching a glimpse of Pacifica making breakfast in the kitchen.

5 years ago, Dipper had gotten the opportunity to become a cop against anomalies leaking into our world. Naturally, he accepted the job immediately, choosing to work for the government in an elite secret division of crime fighters. But then there was the problem of a partner.

He didn't want to go it alone; from what Dipper had understood, this line of work often got lonely. With constant travel and a host of dangerous battles, keeping up a relationship with someone was extremely hard. And, to make matters worse, Mabel had already gone to a fashion school with the intent of opening a store. His twin, Candy, and Brenda had collaborated on this, and a year later, they were the co-owners of a booming business. Apparently neon and excessive glitter made for popular trends. But, in any case, Mabel had already established herself, settled down with a degree of normalcy; he couldn't drag her out of it. That really only left one person; Pacifica.

Pacifica and Dipper, over the annual Pines twin trips to Gravity Falls during the summer, had become best friends. The first summer back, they were just hanging out a lot. But the one after that, they were glued at the hip. And then they were pen pals. Pacifica was easily his best friend, and Dipper knew that she was the best person to have at his side, his sister not included. That and she kept him grounded. Once during a case, he literally forgot to eat for 2 days. Pacifica was the one who forced Dipper away from the desk and towards a movie theater, where she made him eat awful popcorn and pizza during a terrible chick flick that they had randomly selected. She had come a long was from the cold, mean girl she was at 13.

Now they lived in an RV unit and were heading back to Gravity Falls to visit Mabel and their other friends. Dipper was trying to focus on the road, but with Pacifica dancing around to music with ruffled hair while trying not to burn eggs, it was pretty hard. She was . . . she was . . .

"Adorable," he finished out loud, a small smile on his face. Pacifica turned around.

"Did you say something?" she asked, her attention split between the food and a possible conversation. He shook his head.

"Nope. Just thinking out loud," he replied. As she shrugged and went back to what she was doing, Dipper sighed with relief. He was doing this more and more often. There was something wrong with him.

Like last week, when Pacifica grabbed his hand as they left a store. Suddenly it was like he couldn't breath, like there was some sort of tightness in his chest. Or on Wednesday, when they were going to a party undercover and she put on a fancy silver dress.

"How do I look?" Pacifica had asked him, turning around to face him, biting her lip slightly. All he had been able to do for the longest time was stare. It was like Dipper couldn't think coherently anymore.

"Uh duh," he had responded.

"What?" she questioned, confused.

"You look great. Better than great." He internally slapped himself right there. Pacifica lit up, however.

"Thanks, Dipper," she had said before going back into the other room to change. Dipper still winced to think about that.

And then, of course, there was yesterday. Where he had made her dinner while she was out and Pacifica kissed his cheek. Instantly he had felt clammy and disconnected, unable to focus. Yep, he had to be sick. There was no other explanation.

He shook his head, trying to leave this daydream. He really ought to be watching the road. They were only about 10 minutes away, now. Just then, Pacifica came into the passenger seat, holding up a tray of eggs. She passed a plate to him.

"Hey, you should really eat before we get there," she told him. As if to prove her point, Pacifica picked up her fork and shoveled breakfast into her mouth. He grinned at her.

"Yeah, I will. Just give me a second . . . Wait, what the . . . ?" His sentence went unfinished, because just then, a drunk truck driver speeding down the corner crashed sideways into their RV, angling it towards the right, where there was only a thin wooden fence dividing it from the 20 ft drop to the ground. Dipper, relying heavily on sheer instinct, grabbed his best friend and hurled them out of the left door. They rolled onto the asphalt, Dipper taking the blunt of the blow with Pacifica on top of him, while their 5 year home fell onto the grassy area below.

"My head . . . " he groaned, and Pacifica began padding him down to check for any open wounds.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Please don't be dying, you're my best friend! I love you too much, you can't be hurt!" the blond rambled on, too scared for him to think entirely rationally. Dipper, however, simply wrapped his arms around the now crying girl, not saying anything, just assuring her that he was going to be fine and that he was there. She leaned into him, allowing the shock to wash over her.

"That was awful," she whispered. He nodded, then sat up, Pacifica now in his lap. He looked down at her, now with a question on his mind.

"Did you," Dipper paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to go about this. "Did you say that you loved me, or was that just the head blow talking?" She thought about it for a second, looking down at the way his arms were wrapped around her.

"Yes, I guess I did." She rested her head on his shoulder now, much more calm and composed. "Huh." There was a comfortable silence enveloping them for a while. Then Dipper, without really thinking at all, grabbed her face and kissed her. He felt this warmth in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't quite place as he did, and after a scary moment, she thawed and began to kiss him back. It was long, and soft, not overly filled with lust. It was real. And it ended far too quickly, due to their desperate need for air.

"Pacifica," Dipper said through pants as he tried to catch his breath. "I think I might be in love with you." And just like that, he realized why he had been acting so weird. She stared at him, almost in disbelief, despite what he had just done.

"Really?" she asked in a small voice, almost afraid he didn't mean it. Nothing could possibly be worse than a rejection from your best friend.

"Really," he answered back immediately, not even stopping to mull it over. No, after 5 years of living together and 5 years of friendship beforehand, he was finally certain about this. So she kissed him again, although this one was significantly shorter considering they were in the middle of the road and cars were beginning to pass them.

"You know," Dipper remarked after their lips broke contact. "We should really be getting into Gravity. Before a full scale clean up crew comes to investigate and we aren't allowed to leave the police station until tomorrow." Pacifica, although her clothes were torn and covered in dirt, laughed at this.

"Yeah, that's probably going to happen any second now." And so they walked, in tattered slippers that had just been prancing around the RV kitchen and in tennis shoes both stained and ripped, to the small town in the middle of Oregon. They may or may not have gotten several strange glances from passing travelers. After almost exactly 10 minutes, they reached the outskirts, where Mabel was waiting in an itchy-looking 'Welcome back, Bro-Bro!' sweater. She took one glance at the way their hands were intertwined and squealed.

"You guyyyyyssssss!" the brunette exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. "You're a couple. I knew it! Out of the pocket of her jeans she removed a crumpled slip of paper. She wrote down their names and shouted, "Match made! Finally. Dipper, do you know how long I have been waiting for this?" Without stopping to get an answer, she continued, "Forever! I was starting to think you would die old and alone!" Mabel laughed, Pacifica smirked with her eyebrow raised, and Dipper blushed bright red.

"Um, I would have been fine," he muttered weakly, pulling Pacifica a little closer. The blond found it endearing to see her best friend - and now more - who was usually so confident in his abilities feel insecure and nervous like his 13 year old self whenever relationships were brought up. it was hilarious. She kissed his cheek.

"Don't worry, partner. I think I'm going to stick around." Then she shoved him lightly. "Besides, who will pick up your messes in the RV without me?" Pacifica winced. "You know, if it weren't totaled . . ." Mabel's eyes then widened.

"Wait a second, why are you two so dirty? And where's your house? Oh my gosh, did you lose your house?!" The couple only laughed in response.

"It's kind of a long story . . ." Dipper trailed off, scratching the back of his neck. He gazed at Pacifica softly. Right now, all that mattered was getting her cleaned up. "One for another time. Now where can we change?" His new girlfriend smiled, just happy to be back. And right then, things were looking up; even more so than they already had been.

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 **So yeah. That's my 20 minute fanfiction. Sorry if this isn't very good; it's my first (and possibly only) Gravity Falls fanfiction, so go easy on me. Anyways, this is a oneshot, but if enough people push for it and I have enough time, I will consider a sequel. And for readers of my other stories, just know that I haven't abandoned any of them; the ones that are still in the making will be continued.**


End file.
